Sydney🚀’s review published on Letterboxd:
The good news is that Civil War is not the heavy-handed right vs. left eye roller that the trailers might have made it seem like. Actually, Garland has almost completely abstained from political specifics and instead made a Heart of Darkness-type road trip film through the lens of war photographers as they travel from New York to DC in a war-torn America. I love this idea and the conversation about the impact of an image, desensitization, to what lengths the characters are going to capture these moments and why. We see this trauma and obsession cascade through generations of journalists, with the most harrowing moments born from the relationship between Kirsten Dunst and Cailee Spaeny.
But while we feel for the characters, with no context there’s only so much we can understand about them as people. Many won’t find this bothersome and might even think the fictional, almost sci-fi approach to a divided American landscape benefits Garland’s vision, but I think it is what ultimately muffled my emotional response. I’ve lived in DC for the better part of a decade, through Trump’s presidency, the insurrection, thousands of marches on the White House against police violence, for reproductive rights, and recently Aaron Bushnell’s haunting cries for a free Palestine. Considering how possible an America like this often feels, Garland choosing not to reckon with the political implications of it left a gnawing feeling of absence despite enjoying most of the film. Maybe it will age very well and this dissonance is confined to the moment in which it’s being released. I’m not sure! It’s a beautifully shot movie with an approach that I adore, but a backdrop that feels like a weird elephant in the room. See it in IMAX!
